Liberty in its free expression in votes cast is the presupposition that makes democratic political process possible in both the public and private electoral spheres. The confidence of the electorate depends on both the impartiality and the accuracy of the vote count. Factions may arise with significant interests that may be perceived to be at odds with the popular will. The less the cast ballots can be tampered with, the more the votes cast result will be seen as impartial and the greater the confidence the electorate will have in the results of any given election.
Representative of the heretofore known voting systems utilizing ballot images are U.S. Pat. No. 8,913,787 issued Dec. 16, 2014 to Hoover et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 8,864,026 issued Oct. 21, 2014 to Coomer et al., each incorporated herein by reference. The ballot images of Coomer are provided with unique ballot identification indicia, polling station identification indicia and poll worker identification indicia for ballot image verification and authentication in the event of an audit. In Hoover, the ballot images include an election official area which may be used by election officials to validate each particular ballot such as by signing the ballot by placing initials in an area provided therefor on the corresponding ballot.
In close or contested elections, it may become necessary to produce and audit the ballot images to verify the authenticity of the ballots that were cast in tangible form such as paper ballots. However, the audit security of the heretofore known voting systems utilizing ballot images has been subject to compromise due to the unavailability of voting records from loss or corruption; due to ballot insertions and/or ballot tampering; and/or due to suspicion that the intent of the electorate has not been honored.